1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door wire harness arrangement structure in which a flexible wire harness protector and a flat wire harness are employed to electrically connect a door of a vehicle to its main body.
2. Related Art
FIGS. 16 and 17 illustrate the door wire harness arrangement structure disclosed in Japanese Patent application No. 8-176687 submitted by the present applicant.
In this structure, a wire harness is arranged between a door 80 and a main body 81 inside a stiff wire harness protector 82 made of a synthetic resin. The wire harness protector 82 can slide along a door inner panel 83 in synchronization with the movements of the door 80, and it can swing freely, with a connector 84 of the main body 81 being a supporting point, as shown in FIG. 17.
A slide protrusion 85 (shown in FIG. 17) is provided at the rear end of the wire harness protector 82, and slidably engaged with a slide guide 86 on the door inner panel 83. A connector 87 (FIG. 17) is provided at the front end of the wire harness protector 82, and connected to the connector 84 of a wire harness 88 of the main body. The connector 84 on the main body side is rotatable via a bracket 89 in the direction of the arrow C in synchronization with the rocking of the wire harness protector 82.
A wire harness 90 extending through the rear opening of the wire harness protector 82 is secured with a clip 91 at the top so as to swing along the door inner panel 83. The door inner panel 83 is connected to a door trim panel 92, and the wire protector 82 is situated between the door inner panel 83 and the door trim panel 92.
With the conventional structure, however, there has been a problem that the number of components employed and the production costs are inevitably increased, because it is necessary to employ a mechanism for rotatably supporting the connector 84 of the main body. Also, as shown in FIG. 17 (indicated by a broken line), it is necessary to form the escape bulging portion 93 on the door trim panel 92 so as to prevent interference between the wire harness protector 82 and the door trim panel 92 when closing the door. As a result of this, the door trim panel might be limited or even damaged in its design and outlook. As for the position of the wire harness protector 82, there has been a problem that it cannot be commonly used among different types of vehicle, because its position is strictly limited. Further problems with the wire harness protector 82 are that it tends to be thick and occupy a large space.